NYT columnist Bret Stephens warns of attacks on media
Conservative New York Times columnist Bret Stephens warned Friday against President Trump's hostility towards the news media, saying verbal attacks targeting the media could lead to actual violence against journalists. Stephens in his column pointed to a recent anonymous person who had called his office and left a threatening message as evidence that the president's rhetoric was having darker effects.
“I don’t carry an AR but once we start shooting you f—ers you aren’t going to pop off like you do now," Stephens recalled the person saying ... "The message I got in May was the third time I’ve been expressly or implicitly threatened with violence by someone whose views clearly align with Donald Trump’s," Stephens wrote.
"... not all of the president’s defenders are sophisticated. A few hear the phrase 'enemy of the people' and are prepared to take the words to their logical conclusion," he continued. "Is my caller one of them? I can’t say. But what should be clear is this: We are approaching a day when blood on the newsroom floor will be blood on the president’s hands."
Tensions between the president and the news media reached new heights this week, with a CNN reporter cursed and booed at a rally on Tuesday night.
"Whatever happened to fair press? Whatever happened to honest reporting?" the president asked during a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday night. Trump went on in that appearance to refer to the media as "horrible, horrendous people" and "disgusting."
http://thehill.com/homenews/media/400361-nyt-columnist-bret-stephens-warns-of-attacks-on-media-blood-on-the-presidents
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